Wenzel Uses His Veto Power

Mason Wenzel, student body president, vetoed a bill that would allow another committee to exist during election season.

The Senate bill was vetoed immediately after the Student Government meeting that took place Sunday, Jan. 28.

Wenzel vetoed the motion for two main reasons: he disagreed with the underlying points, and because he thinks there’s a lot of major concerns that were not brought up. He also thinks the Senate needed more time to allow for thought and discussion on the subject.

The Senate bill would make it so the executive cabinet would have to create a new committee that would then have to assess the president’s appointments before going to the Senate meeting where they’re supposed to assess the president’s appointments after the student body president and vice president have already sat down and assessed all of the executives. “I feel like it’s adding another layer of thick red tape bureaucracy that’s not only unnecessary, but it stems a lot of major issues from it as well,” Wenzel said.

Despite the fact that this bill will have no effect on the graduating executive branch of Student Government, Wenzel doesn’t want to leave any redundancies behind when he graduates. “It’s a bunch of redundancies; it’s really going to be inefficient. I know senators want to learn more and want to understand where their appointments are coming from, and I commend them for wanting to know their rights on checks and balances, but I think it’s an overstep.” Wenzel said.

If Wenzel’s veto is overridden, Student Government will proceed to interview a number of candidates and slate them. The committee that could be created with this bill can then also review these candidates and give a recommendation before the slate gets to the Senate. Effectively, this will tell Senate who to vote for, which is in violation of how Wenzel believes Student Government should handle prospective candidates. Wenzel believes that conversation should be held within Senate meetings so that everyone is included.

Currently, executives are appointed by the student body president and vice president, and the Senate can turn down anybody appointed, “Which is great; it’s an amazing system and it works very well, and I think there are a few minor flaws in this, but I feel like it’s an over-correction,” Wenzel said.

If the veto is overridden, it will extend the timeline of Student Government’s plan by at least three meetings; that’s three meetings missing part of Student Government.

A different piece of legislation that passed unanimously altered the current voting system by allowing senators to meet without the executives in the room to make them more comfortable while sharing their opinions, “I think that legislation is great and I’m happy it passed, ” Wenzel said.